Blank reversing and shaping mechanism



.mg.'23,193e.T HBJQNES 2,128,186

BLANK REVERSING AND SHAPING MECHANISM Filed Aug. l5, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l r1 .l. 23 am ,lj 27 -l flflsn F .J5 J v s; 2 J5 l: 1t l, -Ji 5 :-q: E I LOAD i g gl T 5 l Il l' f6 g i FAce on CHAMFER 34 l l 33 32 4::- 10 li far/y Jones ATTORNEY Aug. 23, 1938. H. B. JONES 2,128,186

BLANK REVERSING AND SHAPING MEGHANISM Filed Aug. 13, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 23, 1938 UNITED STATES BLANK REVERSING AND SHAPING MECHANISM Harry B. Jones, Tonawanda, N. Y., asslgnor to Buffalo Bolt Company,

North Tonawanda,

' N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 13, 1937, Serial No. 158,872

13 Claims.

My present invention is shown as embodied in a machine of a type which includes means for holding a nut blank, such as a chuck or collet; and cooperating means for operating upon or through an exposed end or surface of the blank, as by chamfering, countersinking or reaming; in combination with means whereby, after operations for one end face have been completed, the blank is ejected into a reversing holder whereby it is rotated 180, in the plane of its longitudinal axis, and is then replaced in the same holder, for the same or different operations on or through its other end or surface.

The novel features of my invention relate more particularly to the blank reversing mechanism and its combination with various known types of holding and shaping mechanism wherein the holder is held stationary in operative relation to the reversing holder, and the reverser operating means is driven from and synchronized with the shaping mechanism.

It is therefore possible to use a single, stationary blank holder, with tools for successively performing the same or different operations on the blank before and after reversal thereof, but the blank reversing mechanism is particularly adapted for use in combination with a turret type of machine in which a number of similar work holders are moved to and held stationary in alignment with successive tools, by means of suitable indexing mechanism which may be of any well known type and which forms no part of my present invention, except that my nut reversing mechanism is geared to and synchronized with the indexing and tool operating mechanisms so that it will reverse the blank when the. holder is stationary.

The blank reversingholder, particularly in the case of relatively short blanks, such as nut blanks,

is preferably close to, as well as in axial alignment with, the stationary holder at the time when the nut blank is transferred, and one object of the invention, is to have the motion of the reversing holder mostly away from and toward the stationary holder at these times, and most of the 180 end over end rotation of the longitudinal axis of the blank, is effected while the blank holder is relatively remote from the 5o stationary holder.

This is accomplished by having the blank reversing holder eccentrically located and tangentially disposed on a rock shaft, so that when said shaft is rotated 180, the movement of the holder is at first mostly tangential, away from the sta- (Cl. lil-72) tionary holder, and, toward the end of the rotation, it is reversely tangential.

Such eccentric rotation would carry the reversing holder out of registry with the stationary holder, a distance equal to twice the radius of its eccentricity, but such displacement may be compensated for by mounting the rock shaft of the reversing holder in a carriage whereby the rock shaft is shifted so as to replace the axis of the blank holder in alignment with the axis of the stationary holder. ment of the reversing holder, is effected by mounting its rock shaft in a slide reciprocating parallel with and opposite to the direction of the displacement.

While such rotary displacing and linear replacing movements may be successive, I prefer to make them simultaneous, so that the blank is reversed without much displacement from alignment with the axis of the stationary holder. This is accomplished by providing the shaft with a drive pinion .meshing with a stationary rack, the parts being designed and proportioned so-that the rotary displacement of the blank and the rectilinear compensating movement of the slide, begin and end at exactly the same time and place.

An important feature includes means whereby the rotary movement and the rectilinear movement will begin and end with the center of the nut in exact alignment with the axis of the stationary chuck or collet. Such means include opposite stops, such as set screws, one for each end of the slide, which are adjusted so as to accurately fix the length, and the points of beginning and ending of the reciprocations of the slide. To permit the stops to thus control the slide, the mechanisms for reciprocating the slide are primarily designed to reciprocate it as far, and preferably slightly farther, in both directions, than would be required for exact registry; and a spring coupling is interposed between said driving mechanism and said slide; said spring being stiff enough to normally operate as a positive coupling between the drive and the slide, but yieldable enough to permit said set screws to precisely predetermine and limit the travel of the slide. Moreover, said spring coupling is preferably designed for a maximum range of yielding, such as will permit a complete reciprocation cycle of the driving means, without any reciprocation of the slide, so that if the blank reversing mechanism becomes jammed, there will be no danger of breakage.

The above and other features of my invention may be more readily understood from the follow- Such compensating replaceing description in connection'with the accompanying drawings,fin which Fig. 1 shows my nut reversing mechanism in edge elevation, and, in face elevation, portions of the frame and nut holder turret of a blank shaping machine, with which said nut reversing mechanism is combined.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the\nut reversing mechanism' and driving means:

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3-3, Fig. 2; i

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the reversing mechanism and adjacent parts of the turret machine:

Fig. 5 is a detail sectionon the line B-l. Fig. 1, conventionally indicating a type of collet which is commonly employed in turret machines of the type indicated;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a nut showing that the shaping before and after turning was the same for both ends of the nut; and.

Fig. 'l is a similar view showing that one end of the y. nut was chamfered and the other end faced.

Referring to Fig. 1, a housing I of conventional or desired type, supports a shaft 2 which carries and rotates a turret 3 wherein are mounted six nut holding collets, I, 4d, Ib, 4c, 4d and le,

all having theiraxes parallel with the axis of shaft 2. Conventional indexing mechanism not shown rotates the turret and carries the collets to the successive positions shown, and holds them there while the different operations are being simultaneously performed on the several blanks held in the respective collets. In the lower part of casing I is a shaft 5 which is connected and synchronized with turret and tool operating mechanisms, not shown, and has keyed to it a cam 8, having a peripheral cam groove l, engaged by roller 3, on lever arm 9, on rock shaft III, supported in the housing I. This operates to drive the blank reverser, through mechanism described below. I

In Figs. 1 and 3, the blank-reversing holder II is shown as formed with a hex hole I2 for receiving a hex blank, but different shapes may be used, to t articles of other shapes. To hold the blanks during reversal, three of the faces of this hole are provided with conventional means, the means shown being balls, backed by springs, held in place by screws. The blank-reversing holder II is carried by arm I3, which is carried by but radially offset from rock-shaft I4, so that the axis of the holder is eccentrically located and is tangent, at its center, to its arc of rotation about shaft I4. Said shaft is rotatably mounted in slide I5, and extends through and into bearing I8 which is bolted to said slide. Gear I1 flts a square portion of the shaft Il, and is held in place by nut I8.

Gear Il meshes with and rolls on stationary rack 20. Rack 20 is held on bracket 2l by bolts 22 and is adjusted up or down by screws 23 so that the rack and gear will mesh properly when I the slide is in its lowermost position andthe radially olf-set arm I3 is in its initial position, with the face of the reversing holder II, parallel with the face of collet Ib, and with the center of its blank reversing hole I2 in line with the axis of said collet, as shown in Fig. 1. l

The off-set, or eccentricity of reversing holder II, that is, the radial distance between the axis of the rock-shaft Il and the center of the hole I2, as shown by the dotted lines, Fig. 3, is made equal to one-quarter of the pitch circumference cf gear Il, so that when the slide has lifted the annales axis of said shaft the full distance between the upper full line position of the holder and its lower dotted line position, thatl is, twice the radial eccentricity, the reverser will have rotated Bracket 2i is bolted to the turret housing I, by bolts 24, extending through slots 25, which permit the bracket to be adjusted horizontally by screw 26, to a position such that when arm I3 is in its initial uppermost position, the holder Il, will be located in correct transfer relation to the collet 4b. The correct travel of slide I5 is controlled by top and bottom set screws 21, 28, Fig. 1. This is necessary because, as described above, the angle through which olf-set arm I3 will rotate, is directly proportional to the distance the slide I5 carries shaft I 4 and rolls gear I1 on stationary rack 2l). Link 23 connects slide I5 to lever 3II which is free to turn on shaft I0. 'Ihe previously described positively actuated driving lever 3, is keyed to said shaft I0 and rocks it through an arc predetermined by cam groove l. This movement is transmitted to unkeyed lever 30 through a two-armed lever 3I which is keyed to said shaft I0 and drives lever 30 through tension bolts 32, 32, and compression springs 33, 33,

which apply thrust on opposite ends of a twoarmed lever 34, which yis integral with said unkeyed lever 30. These springs 33 are powerful enough and are under sufficient compressionso that normallythey drive the slide I5 into contact with the top and bottom stop-screws 21, 23,` but should the arm or slide jam in any way, the springs act as a safety.

In Fig. 5, a stationary blank holder in the form of a collet having an ejector 35, is shown in operative relation to a blank-reversing holder I I, into which a blank has been pushed by the ejector; together with a plunger 38 whereby the blank will be pushed back into the stationary holder, after it has been reversed.

The dotted line quadrant on this Fig. 5 shows how the reversing holder Il would move if its center was in the turning axis, insteadof being eccentric thereto.v Obviously, very slight rotation would cause its lower corner to strike the face of the collet. Hence, the radial eccentricity of holder II and the resulting arc of its rotation,

requires that the radius of eccentricity of the center of the holder be considerably greater than its own maximum radius in its plane of rotation, as measured from center to edge, along the corner-to-corner line indicated by said dotted lines on Fig. 5.

As shown in Fig. 2, the cam groove l is designed to cause one complete reciprocation of the slide, per revolution of the cam 6. In this connectlon it is to be noted that the reversing holder receives the blank at one end of a stroke of the slide, reverses it, and delivers it, at the other end of the same stroke; also that the reversing holder goes through a precisely similar turning cycle on the return stroke of the slide. Consequently, the return stroke could be delayed until the next succeeding blank is ejected into the reversing holder,

1li f) fact is that the synchronized mechanism'is simpler and the groove of the driving cam is capa-l ble of more accurate and effective design, when there is one completerevolution of the cam, causing a complete two-way'reciprocation of the slide, for each blank reversed; and preferably the blank-reversing stroke is the up-stroke of the slide, causing down-stroke of the holder` It will be understood that Where the reversed blank is to be put backin the same collet, the pitch line radius of gear I1 must be of-the same length as the radius of eccentricity of the center of the reversing holder ll with respect to the axis of shaft I4, and the compensating movement of slide l5 must be twice that length; but the same mechanical elements may be` used to reverse the blank and put it in a differently located holder, as by suitably changing locations, lengths or proportions of the radii of holder eccentricity, or gear pitch line, or the length or direction of the movement of the slide. f

I claim:

1. A relatively stationary holder for presenting a surface of a blank to shaping mechanism, a movable reversing holder axially aligned with said stationary holder, an ejector for transferring the blank from the stationary holder into the movable reversing holder, a pusher for returning the'blank, retracting and reversing means including a shaft on which said movable holder is' eccentrically mounted, the radius of its eccentricity being at least equal to the required distance of retraction, means for rotating said shaft 180 to carry said holder away from'and back to the transfer plane, and means for moving said shaft at right angles to its axis a distance sufficient to restore the axis of the reversing holder to alignment with lthe axis of said stationary holder.

2. Apparatus as specied in claim 1, and wherein the distance of movement of the means for moving the shaft at right angles to its axis, is determined by stationary stops, one at each end of said movement, in combination with the positive means adapted to reciprocate the slide through a range equal to the maximum requirements, and an interposed spring-coupling stiff enough to insure movement of said means into contact with each of said stops.

3. A relatively stationary holderfor presenting a surface of a blank to shaping mechanism, a movable reversing holder axially aligned with said stationary holder, an ejector forftransferring the blank from the stationary holder into the movable reversing holder, a pusher for returning the blank, retracting and reversing means including 'a shaft on which said movable holder is eccentrically mounted, the radius of its eccentricity being at least equal to theV required distance of refraction, means for rotating said shaft 180 to carry said holder away from and back to the transfer plane, and means forfmovlng said shaft at right angles vto its axis a distance sufficient to restore the axis of the reversing holder to alignment with the axis of said stationary holder, said means including a slide in which said shaft is mounted, and means for reciprocating said slide through the same distance, but in the opposite direction to the displacement due to the eccentricity of said reversing holder with respect to its axis.

4. Apparatus as specified by' claim '3 and wherein the means for determining the beginning, end, and length ofthe reciprocations of the slide include stationary adjustable stops; one at eachv end'of the slide, in combination with positiven1 means adapted to reciprocate'the slide through a range equal to the maximum requirements, and i an interposed spring-coupling stiff enough to insure reciprocation of the slide into contact with each of 'said stops. y

5. A relatively stationary holder for presenting a surface of a blank to shaping mechanism, a movable holder axially aligned with said stationary holder, an ejector for transferring the blank from the stationary holder into the movable holder, and a pusher for returning the blank, a shaft on which said movable holder is eccentrically mounted, means for rotating said shaft 180 to carry said holder away from and back to the transfer plane, and means for moving said shaft at right angles to its axis a distance sufficient to restore the axis of the reversing holder to alignment with the axis of said stationary holder, said 'means including a slide in,which said shaft is mounted, and means for reciprocating said slide through the same distance, but

in the Opposite direction to the displacement due to the eccentricity of said reversing holder with respect to its axis, and said means for rotating the shaft and said reversing holder being a gear mounted thereon, and a stationary rack parallel with the slide, on which said gear rolls.

6. A relatively stationary holder for presenting a surface of `a blank to shaping mechanism, amovable holder axially aligned with said sta-A tionary holder, an ejectorfor transferring the blank from the stationary holder into the movable holder, and a pusher for returning the blank, a shaft on which said movable holder is eccentrically mounted, means for rotating said shaft 180 to carry said holder away from and back to the transfer plane, and means for moving lsaid shaft at right angles to its axis a distance sufficient to restore the axis of the reversing holder to l alignment with the axis of said stationary holder,

'7. A relatively stationary holder for present-1- ing a surface of a blank to successively-operating shaping mechanisms, a: movable holder adapted to be moved into position'of axial alignment with` said stationary holder during intervals between operations of said shaping mechanisms, an ejector for transferring the blank from the stationary holder into the movable holder when it is in said axially aligned position, and a pusher for returning the blank; retracting and reversing means for moving said movable holder into and out of said position of axial alignment, including a shaft mounted to rotate in planes parallel with the axis of said stationary holder, on which shaft said movable holder is mounted with its axis' eccentrically located, and tangentially disposed, with respect to the axis of said shaft the radius of its eccentricity being at least equal to the re- 15 4- quired distance of retraction: means for rotating said shaft 180'to rotate said movable holder tangentially and circularly away from said stationary holder through the rst 90, and then toward it through the second 90; together with means for moving said shaft so as to compensate for the displacement of vtheaxis of said reversing holder which would otherwise result .from its 180 of eccentric rotation.

8. Apparatus as set forth in claim '1, and wherein-,the shaft rotating means is actuated simultaneously with the means formoving said for returning vthe blank; retracting and reversing means for moving said movable holder into and out of said position of axial alignment, including a shaft mounted to rotate in planes parallel with the axis ofsaid stationary holder, on which shaft said' movable holder vis mounted with its axis eccentrically located, and tangentially disposed, with respect to the axis of said shaft the radius of its eccentricity being at least equal to the required distance of retraction; meansv for rotating said shaft 180 to rotate said movable holder tangentially and circularly away from said stationary holder through the first 90, and then toward it through the second 90; together with means for moving said shaft so as to compensate for the displacement of the axis of said reversing holder which would otherwise result from its 180 of eccentric rotation; said' means for moving the shaft including a slide in which said shaft is rotatably mounted, and means for reciprocating said slide parallel with, and through the same distance, as the displacement; but in the opposite direction.

10. Apparatus as set forth in claim 9, and wherein the shaft rotating means is actuated simultaneously with the means for moving said shaft, so that both begin and end at the same time.

including a-shaft mounted to rotate in planes parallel with the axis of said stationary holder, on

which shaft said movable holder is mounted with its axis eccentrically located. and tangentially dis,

posed, with respect to the axis of said shaft; means for rotating said shaft 180 to rotate said movable holdertangentially and circularly away from said stationary holder through the i'lrst 90, and then toward it through the second 90; `together with means for moving said shaft so as to compensate for the displacement of the axis of said reversing holder which would otherwise result from its 180 of eccentric rotation; said means for lmoving the shaft including a slide in which said shaft is rotatably mounted, and means for reciprocating said slide parallel with, and through the same distance, as the displacement; but in the opposite direction; andsaid means for rotating the shaft and reversing holder including a gear mounted on said shaft. meshing with and rolling on a stationary rack parallel with the slide.

12. Apparatus as specified in claim 11,- and wherein one-quarter of the pitch circumference of said gear is equal to the radius of eccentricity of said movable holder.

13. A nut blank shaping machine of the type wherein a holder presents each blank endwise to devices for performing a series of operations thereon, and the holder is stationary during each operation and is provided with means for axially ejecting a blank therefrom when stationary; and,

in combination therewith, a rotary holder Iadapted .mounted and means for reciprocating said slide parallel with the plane of rotation of said shaft; and means for rotating the shaft including a gear mounted on said shaft, meshing with and rolling on a stationary rack parallel with the slide; and means for determining the beginning, end, and length of the reciprocations of the slide include stationary adjustable stops, one at each end of the slide; and said means for reciprocating the slide including positively actuated driving means adapted to reciprocate the slide through a range greater than that permitted by the stops, and an interposed spring-couplingA permittingstoppage of the slide when it contacts with either of said stops.

HARRY 1?..l JoNne. so 

